The year 2011 was one year that we will all never forget. Even though they were all in the beginning of the year, the floods in Queensland and Brazil, the earthquakes in Christchurch and the tsunami in the north of Japan are still present in all of our minds. We also saw the death of a tech luminary, Steve Jobs; and the powerful News Corporation losing its influence over politicians in the UK after the phone hacking scandal took a drastic turn from celebrities to victims of crime.

This year, we’ve decided to recap the top 11 tech stories of the year – from security problems to business failures, and even the growing popularity of Windows Phone 7.

You can explore the choices below.

• The Revolutions Heard Around The Globe
• The Catastrophic Disaster of the PSN
• Steve Jobs: 1955 – 2011
• The Phone Hacking that killed the News
• A Global War – Apple v Samsung
• A 50 Day Hacking Campaign, for the lulz
• The Rise of Windows Phone 7
• An annus horribilis for RIM and Netflix
• Palm is dead, WebOS lives on
• Social: Google enters, LinkedIn goes IPO and Timeline
• Gone Viral: Friday – an instant success amongst the haters
• Credits

Image Credits: Al Jazeera English (Left) and David Shankbone (Right). All are licensed under Creative Commons.

Stewart is sick for this episode – so officially ending his perfect attendance record. And Tom is doing the recording, and he expresses his outrage on his ISP – and if you see some bits of editing fail, you know who to turn.

We’ll see you next week on TECHGEEK Weekly. Don’t forget to subscribe!

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The Top Stories

iPhone 4 comes to Verizon
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20028073-266.html

Verizon iPhone 4 Doesn’t Suffer from Death Grip
http://www.slashgear.com/verizon-iphone-4-doesnt-suffer-from-death-grip-11125827/

iPhone Personal Hotspot feature headed to all iPhones in iOS 4.3?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/12/iphone-personal-hotspot-feature-headed-to-all-iphones-in-ios-4-3/

Apple Seeds iOS 4.3 Beta to Developers: Personal Hotspot, AirPlay Video Streaming, New iPad Gestures
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/12/apple-seeds-ios-4-3-beta-to-developers/

Next iPad, iPhone to Lose Home Button?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375678,00.asp

Next Generation iPad to launch in the US on April 2nd or 9th
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/13/next-generation-ipad-to-launch-in-the-u-s-on-april-2nd-or-9th/

MySpace to close operations in Australia, axes 500 jobs
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/12/myspace-to-close-operations-in-australia-axes-500-jobs/

MySpace Confirms Sale Rumors
http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000628

MySpace Sale, Merger or Spinoff Being Weighed by News Corp., Official Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-12/myspace-sale-merger-or-spinoff-being-weighed-by-news-corp-official-says.html

Myspace – The End Of An Era
http://www.coloursandlight.com/2011/01/myspace-end-of-an-era/

Google yanking H.264 video out of Chrome
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20028196-264.html

More about the Chrome HTML Video Codec Change
http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html

Stewart’s Briefs Long-winded summaries (1)

Intel plans Windows 8 phones
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/364381/intel-plans-windows-8-phones

Microsoft opposes “App Store” trademark by Apple
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/12/microsoft-opposes-app-store-trademark-by-apple/

Apple, News Corp delay The Daily
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/15/apple-news-corp-delay-the-daily/

Sony Closing 18M CD/Month Plant
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/12/1453255/Sony-Closing-18MCDMonth-Plant

Gadgets

Terence: HTC 7 Mozart and HTC 7 Trophy (review units)
http://www.htc.com/au/product/7mozart/overview.html
http://www.htc.com/au/product/7trophy/overview.html

Tom: Acer Iconia
http://www.acer.com/iconia/

Chris: Qualcomm Mirasold
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/qualcomm-mirasol/

The Other News

Investigation reveals Vodafone customers’ personal details easy to access
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/09/investigation-reveals-vodafone-customers-personal-details-easy-to-access/

Vodafone sacks staff after security breach review
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/13/vodafone-sacks-staff-after-security-breach-review/

Facebook to move all users to “new profile” layout – despite users objections
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/11/facebook-to-move-all-users-to-new-profile-layout-despite-users-objections/

Social sites, mobiles beat filters: EU study
http://www.zdnet.com.au/social-sites-mobiles-beat-filters-eu-study-339308596.htm

Exclusive: BlackBerry Torch 2 gets detailed
http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/13/exclusive-blackberry-torch-2-gets-detailed/

Exclusive: BlackBerry Dakota gets pictured; the touch and type BlackBerry you’ve been waiting for
http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/13/exclusive-blackberry-dakota-gets-pictured-the-touch-and-type-blackberry-youve-been-waiting-for/

Exclusive: BlackBerry Storm 3 shows up, tells all
http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/14/exclusive-blackberry-storm-3-shows-up-tells-all/

Chatroulette figures out how to make money from naked men
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/chatroulette-figures-out-how-to-make-money-from-naked-men-20110113/

Man sues Wikileaks for creating “nucliar WAR” fear
http://techgeek.com.au/2011/01/15/man-sues-wikileaks-for-creating-nucliar-war-fear/

Stewart’s Briefs Long-winded summaries (2)

Thieves rip off SIM cards from Johannesburg’s traffic signals
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/14/thieves-rip-off-sim.html

RIM gives India access to network, but not secure e-mails
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20028395-83.html

IPhone -South Korean Director Uses iPhone 4 to Shoot Movie
http://iphone.tmcnet.com/topics/iphone/articles/134474-south-korean-director-uses-iphone-4-shoot-movie.htm

Pop that cork! Intel quadruples employees’ bonuses
http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/13/intel-showering-employees-with-4x-bonuses/

Jeopardy-Playing Computer Tromps Human Players in Practice Round
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/01/13/ibms-jeopardy-playing-computer-tromps-human-players-in-practice-round/

Apple Launches ’10 Billion App Countdown’ Contest
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/14/apple-launches-10-billion-app-countdown-contest/

Offices will also shut down in the UK and Germany, with the UK’s operations to be conducted under an alliance with News Corp-owned .Fox Networks. Australia and Germany operations will be replaced with “strategic local partnerships… to manage advertising sales and content,” According to a statement by MySpace’s CEO Mike Jones.

“Today’s tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability. These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product,” Jones said.

“The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side. We are also committed to rebuilding the company with an entrepreneurial culture and an emphasis on technical innovation.”

Mumbrella has confirmed that News Limited, News Corp’s Australian operations, will not be taking on advertising sales for MySpace. As well, as confirmed by Fairfax, IGN Entertainment – which runs alongside MySpace under Fox Interactive Media – will not close its Australian operations.

MySpace was bought by News Corp for US$580 million in 2005 – but it has since been taken over as the leader in the social networking sphere in recent years by Facebook, who previously was locked down as a college-only social network before expanding to a global audience. The very deep cuts in its job forces reflect the current state of MySpace, recently shifting its focus to an entertainment hub, rather than a social network – especially after it announced that it would also be supporting Facebook Connect.

It is also being hinted that the axes could pave a sale of the site to another company – with most analysts pointing to Yahoo. However, with Yahoo’s own woes as it also plans a refocus from search to content, it seems an unlikely home for the former darling of the social networking era.

The large job culls will significantly affect its international operations as the company tries to rebrand itself from a social network to an entertainment hub. It’s Chinese operations is also being reported to have laid off 30 of its staff – two-thirds of its staff presence in the country – and its CEO has left the company.

The company’s “legacy businesses and products” are said to be the main targets, according to All Things D‘s Liz Gannes. The cull may be trying to make MySpace into something worth buying, as it is trying to sell the company to Yahoo – who is also trying to rebrand itself after search.

Plans for a large jobs cull is nothing new, with rumours in December hinting of it, with numbers as high of 70 percent of its employees.

We also find out that the russians are making their own distribution of Linux and we find 100 naked pictures of people.

Join in with Stewart, Tom, James and Chris with a long(ish) podcast, full of… well… who knows. You just need to listen!

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SHOW NOTES

Apple brings The Beatles catalogue to iTunes
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/11/17/apple-brings-the-beatles-catalogue-to-itunes/

MySpace and Facebook to hold joint annoucement tomorrow?
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/11/18/myspace-and-facebook-to-hold-joint-annoucement-tomorrow/

MYSPACE INTRODUCES MASHUP WITH FACEBOOK
http://www.myspace.com/pressroom/2010/11/myspace-introduces-mashup-with-facebook/

Report: Facebook event Monday relates to Office
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20022564-75.html?tag=mncol;txt

Facebook unveils e-mail, the sequel
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20022825-36.html?tag=mncol;title

Ballmer denies Microsoft breakup rumours
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/11/17/ballmer-denies-microsoft-breakup-rumours/

One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans
http://gizmodo.com/5690749/these-are-the-first-100-leaked-body-scans

The Basic Things You Need To Know About Full-Body Scanners
http://gizmodo.com/5693841/the-basic-things-you-need-to-know-about-full+body-scanners

Worm Was Perfect for Sabotaging Centrifuges
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/middleeast/19stuxnet.html?_r=1&src=me

Microsoft gives the Open Source community it’s blessing
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/19/131447076/how-the-x-box-kinect-tracks-your-moves

Russia working on a national OS, Linux ‘at the end of its life cycle’?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/19/russia-working-on-a-national-os-linux-at-the-end-of-its-life-c/

Aussie Androids get turn-by-turn navigation
http://www.cnet.com.au/aussie-androids-get-turn-by-turn-navigation-339307325.htm

Turn Your iPhone Into A Wi-Fi Router Without Jailbreaking
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/11/turn-your-iphone-into-a-wi-fi-router-no-jailbreaking/

Google Obliges, Will Delete All Data Collected By Street View Cars
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/11/google-obliges-will-delete-all-data-collected-by-street-view-cars/

STEWARTS TOMS BRIEFS

Telstra structural separation bill passes lower house
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/11/16/telstra-structural-separation-bill-passes-lower-house/

Ice touchscreen makes for some chilly fingers
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/11/ice-touchscreen.php

PSP 2 Dev Kit
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/11/18/psp-2-dev-kit-caught-on-camera/

The invite, sent to Silicon Alley Insider, sees CEO of MySpace, Mike Jones, and VP of Partnerships and Platform Marketing, Dan Rose talking about something. So, that clearly hint at something big in terms of partnerships – and not overly grand as the ‘throwing in the towel’ suggestion appearing in the web.

Other possible suggestions is allowing Facebook users connect to MySpace in order to access MySpace’s superior entertainment offerings, thanks to its ownership with News Corp – or Facebook will use MySpace content to beef up a possible entertainment area of its own.

One thing is for sure, however. MySpace’s time as a social network is dead in the water.

It takes place tomorrow, November 19 (November 18 for those in the US), at 12PM San Francisco time.

Any thoughts? We want to hear your thoughts.

Behold, Episode 15 – the first extremely unorganised podcast to come from TECHGEEK.com.au, oh and we have made the clean tag!

Programming note: Terence & James are not on this week’s episode. Both are representing groups going to Rome.

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SHOW NOTES

Microsoft unleashes Windows Phone 7

http://www.cnet.com.au/microsoft-unleashes-windows-phone-7-339306522.htm

Aussie carriers jump on Windows Phone 7

http://www.cnet.com.au/aussie-carriers-jump-on-windows-phone-7-339306534.htm

Windows Phone 7 apps

http://www.cnet.com.au/windows-phone-7-apps-339306532.htm

Windows Phone 7 will connect to Macs

http://www.cnet.com.au/windows-phone-7-will-connect-to-macs-339306585.htm

Windows Phone 7 Live Messenger official screenshots

http://www.cnet.com.au/windows-phone-7-live-messenger-official-screenshots-339306624.htm

LG Optimus 7 phone specs leaked after accidental posting

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/11/lg-optimus-7-phone-specs-leaked-after-accidental-posting/

Skype 5.0 delivers video-conferencing, Facebook integration

http://www.cnet.com.au/skype-5-0-delivers-video-conferencing-facebook-integration-339306633.htm

Microsoft, Facebook in social search deal

http://www.cnet.com.au/microsoft-facebook-in-social-search-deal-339306588.htm

Telstra unlocks iPhones for free

http://www.cnet.com.au/telstra-unlocks-iphones-for-free-339306621.htm

Geohot releases new jailbreak called Limera1n

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/10/geohot-releases-new-jailbreak-called-limera1n/

TweetDeck Android out of beta

http://www.cnet.com.au/tweetdeck-android-out-of-beta-339306599.htm

Does Android have a ‘dude’ problem?

http://www.cnet.com.au/does-android-have-a-dude-problem-339306623.htm

Sony Ericsson bring out LiveView display for Android

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/11/sony-ericsson-bring-out-liveview-display-for-android/

Everyone has #newtwitter, old design to be phased out

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/14/everyone-has-newtwitter-old-design-to-be-phased-out/

Gran Turismo 5 delayed….again

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/15/gran-turismo-5-delayed-again/

Diabolical app turns your iPhone into a spy camera

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/10/iphone-camera-a.php

Apple holding ‘Back to the Mac’ event October 20

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/14/apple-holding-back-to-the-mac-event-october-20

CTL 2goPad SL10 with Windows 7 starts shipping for $499, arrives looking better than expected

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/13/ctl-2gopad-sl10-with-windows-7-starts-shipping-for-499-arrives/

STEWART’S BRIEFS

PS3 NetFlix goes disk free, 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/15/ps3-netflix-goes-disk-free-1080p-streaming-and-5-1-surround-sound/

New MobileMe Calendar Officially Launched

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/15/new-mobileme-calendar-officially-launched

Is this the new MacBook Air?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/16/is-this-the-new-macbook-air/

AOL looking to buy Yahoo, talking to private equity firms

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/14/aol-looking-to-buy-yahoo-talking-to-private-equity-firms/

Keepin’ it real fake: Magic Mouse and iPhone converge into iPhonc

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/14/keepin-it-real-fake-magic-mouse-and-iphone-converge-into-iphon/

You could buy a small village or this $8 million iPhone

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/10/8-million-diamo.php

Organs status sent to cellphones wirelessly

http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/11/organs-status-sent-to-cellphones-wirelessly/

Google tests self-driving car

http://www.cnet.com.au/google-tests-self-driving-car-339306494.htm

As well, we bring out a new TECHGEEK Tips episode hosted by Terence and Chris, and the individual episode gets released on Saturday.

Programming note: Terence & James will  not be on next week’s episode. Both are representing groups going to Rome.

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SHOW NOTES

Aiming at Android, Microsoft sues Motorola
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20018305-56.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526200991561476.html

With Antennagate over, is Glassgate next for the iPhone 4?
http://gdgt.com/discuss/with-antennagate-over-is-glassgate-next-iphone-ani/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/07/apple-afraid-of-a-shattering-followup-to-its-antennagate-woes/

What did Facebook really just announce?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20018796-36.html

Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/oct/06/facebook-privacy-phone-numbers-upload

Apple in talks to launch iTunes subscription music service?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/08/apple-in-talks-to-launch-itunes-subscription-music-service/

New Apple music subscription rumor pegs price at $10/month
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/10/new-apple-music-subscription-rumor-pegs-price-at-10month.ars

MySpace Unveils New, Artsy Logo
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/08/new-myspace-logo/

Internet Explorer falls below 50 percent in browser market
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/05/internet-explorer-falls-below-50-percent-in-browser-market/

LG puts Android tablet on hold, says Froyo not suitable
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/10/lg-puts-android-tablet-on-hold-says-froyo-not-suitable.ars

What Did Microsoft and Adobe Chiefs Talk About?
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/microsoft-and-adobe-chiefs-meet-to-discuss-partnerships/

Android Most Popular Operating System in U.S. Among Recent Smartphone Buyers
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/android-most-popular-operating-system-in-u-s-among-recent-smartphone-buyers/

Trouble In Clever Domain Land: Bit.ly And Others Risk Losing Theirs Swift.ly
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/06/trouble-in-clever-domain-land-bit-ly-and-others-risk-losing-theirs-swift-ly/

Better Clear Some Space For Kinect (Or Move House)
http://kotaku.com/5656638/better-clear-some-space-for-kinect-or-move-house?skyline=true&s=i

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available
http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2010/10/07/firefox-4-beta-for-android-and-maemo/

Bodies in Brazil: the perils of Google Street View South American-style
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/bodies-in-brazil-the-perils-of-google-street-view-south-americanstyle-20101005-164yp.html

STEWART’S BRIEFS

Shocking: Apple Approves BitTorrent App For App Store
http://torrentfreak.com/shocking-apple-approves-bittorrent-app-for-iphone-app-store-101002/

Don’t be alarmed but your iPhone may have a daylight saving bug
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/iphone/dont-be-alarmed-but-your-iphone-may-have-a-daylight-saving-bug-20101005-165d5.html

Skype finally comes to Android
http://www.cnet.com.au/skype-finally-comes-to-android-339306426.htm

“The Social Network” tops US box office, gets rave reviews
http://techgeek.com.au/2010/10/04/the-social-network-tops-us-box-office-gets-rave-reviews/

United Arab Emirates will not ban Blackberries
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11499755

Sony’s 16.41MP Sensor Shoots 1080p Video and Will Be in Phones Next Year
http://gizmodo.com/5657866/

Palm ‘Mansion’ coming: 800×480, no physical keyboard
http://www.precentral.net/palm-mansion-coming-800×480-no-physical-keyboard

Turnbull says $65 a month will keep most off broadband
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/turnbull-says-65-a-month-will-keep-most-off-broadband-20101004-164ek.html

“Sheryl has been at the forefront of a technological revolution that’s opened up a world of new possibilities for consumers and which has greatly affected the way we do business. Her unique insight, born of great practical experience, will be of considerable value to Disney’s shareholders,” President and CEO Robert Iger said in a press statement.

The post becomes effective immediately when she is elected, along with the re-election of the other twelve members of the board, by the shareholders at its annual meeting on March 10 of next year in San Antonio, Texas.

Before joining Facebook as its COO (its previous one, Owen Van Natta, joined rival MySpace to be its CEO), Sandberg was the Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations for Google, and was a former Chief of Staff at the US Treasury Department.

Her election makes her the second tech industry head to join the board, with CEO of Apple Steve Jobs already having a seat at the board after Disney acquired Pixar Animation Studios in May 2006. Jobs remains to be the largest shareholder in the company, owning seven percent of Disney stock.

But having two technology heads in its board of directors might not be a bad thing, as its already has a foot in the Web 2.0 world. It already owns an equity stake in Hulu, alongside NBC Universal and News Corporation; owns a virtual world for kids titled Club Penguin; and is rumoured to be in discussions to be part of Apple’s rumoured subscription TV service.

Fastest falling search terms were a bit obvious, with Euro 2008 and Beijing 2008 placing second and first place. Heath Ledger was third, while Barack Obama and Amy Winehouse took fourth and fifth place. The Nintendo Wii was also in the list in ninth place, French video-sharing site Dailymotion was seventh; and the AOL-owned social network Bebo was eighth.

For Australia, the fastest rising search term was Network Ten’s ONE HD, which started the commercial channel’s launch of their second digital channel; while Twitter was second, thanks to the recent media promotion by celebrities, journalists and politicians. Ten’s Masterchef was placed third, with the Melbourne Cup following that in fourth position and Grooveshark placed fifth.

Most popular search term, however, in Australia was Facebook, followed by (in that order) YouTube, Hotmail, eBay and MySpace. Sixth place, weirdly, went to Google; while Yahoo, Gmail, Bebo and Seek finished the bottom four places in the list.

The full list is below, and you can find the rest of them at their website.

AUSTRALIA – Fastest Rising

1. one hd
2. twitter.com
3. masterchef
4. melbourne cup 2009
5. grooveshark
6. new moon movie
7. facebook search
8. trading post auto
9. smartkiddies
10. currency converter calculator

AUSTRALIA – Most Popular

1. facebook
2. youtube
3. hotmail
4. ebay
5. myspace
6. google
7. yahoo
8. gmail
9. bebo
10. seek

GLOBAL – Fastest Rising

1. michael jackson
2. facebook
3. tuenti
4. twitter
5. sanalika
6. new moon
7. lady gaga
8. windows 7
9. dantri.com.vn
10. torpedo gratis

GLOBAL – Fastest Falling

1. beijing 2008
2. euro 2008
3. heath ledger
4. barack obama
5. amy winehouse
6. kraloyun
7. dailymotion
8. bebo
9. wii
10. emule

In a recent survey, data results show that MySpace has lost close to 50% of the social market share, despite it’s loyal users staying on the site longer then Facebook or Twitter. Facebook and Twitter now have 8 million and 1.5 million members respectively, according to a recent Nielsen Poll and have been the two main winners in the social rush for glory.

Reasons touted for this drop in user base is largely due to the average age group of the MySpace population and user disappointment at site maintenance, user interactivity and overall site content. MySpace hopes to remedy this problem by turning MySpace into a more music & video driven social networking site.

This comes as its CEO, founder Chris DeWolfe, departed from the company and it brought in a new executive team led by Owen Van Natta.

As well, MySpace Music’s streaming service is US-only (for now) for most of its catalogue, except for those few songs that have been already uploaded. And while MySpace aren’t saying who streamed the 1 billionth song, nor saying what was the 1 billionth song – the billionth stream happened a few days at launch (or last week).

MySpace is set to launch its new music service, which allows you to buy music from the site, among other things, tonight to everyone – in the U.S. of course.

Following Hulu, another News Corporation property with NBC Universal, it has been locked down to only U.S. users only.

While the site redesign will also affect international users, most of the content will not be there, like listening to the wide catalogue being offered from the major labels. This means that if a U.S. user adds any music from their profile from MySpace, those from international IP address will not be able to listen to it – unless its part of their existing catalogue of music, which is much smaller than what the U.S. will be getting.

But don’t worry – they will be negotiating international licensing deals on a country-by-country basis “soon”. Like that is ever going to happen.

If you are like me – an addict of social networking sites – then this site is a must-look.

Ping.FM will allow you to post the same message on your friends over at Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, MySpace, and many other services. While it does not say anything to cure that crippling addiction to social networking – well for me at least – it is a very good Web 2.0 service.

You might want to read the review, because at the end of the review, we will give you the invite code to sign up and start using this excellent service.

Ping.FM does what it does, pinging messages to many different services. We’ve tested it with Plurk, Twitter and Pownce, and they all have the same message – but Twitter is more likely to receive the message much faster than the others. The interface is not distracting, nor does it visually impair the site.

Like I said, this can ping messages to the social networking services – and the list is expanding. At the time of writing, they have 21 services available for you, with a choice to add your own domain. And not only does it have a lot of services that it can ping to, it has many ways for you to send that message that you want to ping – with e-mail messages, instant messaging bots, a Facebook application, a iGoogle Gadget and via the web from either your browser, iPhone or mobile device.

To me, this service is just getting better; and it looks like people are happy. It has a strong community, and is more likely to succeed then drop flat-out into the ditch. It’s just a couple of months old, but it feels like the site has been around for years. It is useful for me because sometimes, I want to make a public notice to everyone; but I need a way to do it – and this can do it for me.

And now for the crucial bit – your invite code. The invite code is vivalaping. Now just head over to the sign up page and put that to gain access. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

While Facebook is improving in market share, it still has less visitors than current market leader, Mixi.jp – Facebook’s 538,000 to Mixi’s 12,738,000 visitors. However, Google’s Orkut is the most engaging social network with users users spending 454 minutes per visitor – which equates to 7 hours per visitor.

The huge stranglehold by Mixi can be because of MySpace and Facebook launching in Japan a couple of years later than Mixi, thus allowing Mixi to have a better identity and a ‘head-start’ in Japan.

You can see the results here from comScore.

OpenID’s way of logging in is you type in a special URL, depending on which of your accounts support OpenID. They usually are just blogs, or links to your profile – but some, like Yahoo, need you to type in their address and you login on their site.

MySpace will become a provider, giving accounts to users, and will allow them to access other OpenID-supported sites, like TECHGEEK.com.au and Twitterfeed, or known as "relaying parties". But, however, you will not be able to use your current OpenID to login to MySpace.

Did you know you can use your OpenID to comment on TECHGEEK.com.au. It is a much easier way to have your say. Log In now!

MySpace is a popular social networking site which allows you to customize everything – but that is not our tutorial for today. This tutorial is basically for the comments, where you can add images and change colours to text, among other things.

But many, like new users, do not know what <b> means. So, TECHGEEK is pleased to bring out the basics of HTML.

This tutorial is to be used with MYSPACE ONLY! Many new social networks use XHTML, which is a variation of HTML and there are things under this lesson which are not supported. You can comment on the TECHGEEK blog, however, do not use this tutorial – a follow up will be up soon (like next week.)

Like this Tutorial? Need your questions answered? Suggesting a new tutorial? Comment below!

HTML Tags

HTML tags follow a simple principal – less than sign-attribute-greater than sign. That’s it. However, you need to make sure you close the tag, or else it would not stop doing the certain attribute. To stop it, put it after the sentence or word you want the attribute and repeat the same thing, but put in a forward slash before the attribute.

Hint: All attributes will be bolded.

Bold, Underline and Italicise your words.

HTML is like a .doc file, it is all written in codes – however, in Microsoft Word, you do not see the codes for yourself as you type what you see. HTML is the back-end for all websites, and is need to be written correctly so it can render, or be read by your web browser, correctly.

Like Microsoft Word; you can make your text bold, underlined or italicised. To make a font bold, replace the word "attribute" from the above section with b. Your code should be, if the sentence was TECHGEEK.com.au would be: <b>TECHGEEK.com.au</b>.

To make text italicised, you just replace the attribute to i – that simple. Underline is also the same, just replace it with a u. The code should now be, for italics: <i>TECHGEEK.com.au</i>; and for underlining TECHGEEK.com.au, it should be: <u>TECHGEEK.com.au</u>.

Links, Embed and Images

Adding links just requires you to do the following: Use the less than sign-attribute-greater than sign, and replace "attribute" with a. Now add a space between a and the greater than sign and type in: href=". Now go to where you want to link to and copy and paste the URL after the quotation mark. Now close the quotation mark and type in a message, like Click Here. Close the tag.

This should be it, if you want to link to TECHGEEK: <a href="http://techgeek.com.au">Click Here</a>.

Images, however, require you to replace "attribute" to img. Now, just like the a attribute, you will need to put something else in it. Put a space and type in src=", and go find your image and its URL – an easy way is to right click on the image and click "View Image" and copy the URL. Now paste it after the quotation mark and close it. Now close the tag. You do not need to put anything between the tags.

It should be this, if I was taking the TECHGEEK Logo and putting it on a comment: <img src="http://techgeek.com.au/wp-content/themes/rnb/img/techgeek.png"></img>. You can also resize it by putting widths and heights, but we will do that in later tutorials.

Embedding Videos, however, is the most simple thing there is. You just need to go on Youtube or any video site and copy the embed code.

Change my font colour and size

Follow the less than sign-attribute-greater than sign basics, and replace the attribute with font. Now put a space and type in size=", and put any size you want the font to be. The font sizes are following the same ones you see on Word, so do not make them too big, or too small. After choosing a size, close the quotation mark. Now go to the end of the word or sentence and close the tag.

It should be: <font size="15">TECHGEEK.com.au</font>.

Now, this is where it gets easy. Changing the font size and colour are under the same tag, so you can just do the same thing as above. For colour, add a space and type in color=" (Note the American spelling). Now, you need to find something called a Hex Code. This is basically the computer’s way to make colours. You can also type in red, black, green, blue, etc.; but they do not understand the concept of dark blue or light blue.

To find the hex code of your colour, visit this site.

After choosing on a colour, now close the quotation marks. If you haven’t closed the tag, close it now. It should now look like this: <font size="15" color="black">TECHGEEK.com.au</font>.

You do not have to have size and colour in the same tag, you can have a <font size="15"> tag and a <font color="black">, but not next to each other.

Is there an easier way?

Yes there is. For Firefox users, you can install an extension called BBCode. This will allow you to format your comments easier with BBCode (for forums), XHTML (for example, the comment form in TECHGEEK) and HTML (for Myspace). If you have not gotten a single word of this, or just need an easier way to do this, this is a great plugin.

How it works is that you just right click on a text box and you should see BBCode. You will need, however, to configure the options to show HTML tags.

It will also see interactivity on MySpace profiles and hopes to expand Vodafone’s music activity, which includes summer festivals in the UK and Germany.

Fans from Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK will be able to compete and will be asked to "demonstrate their reporting skills" across the events. To enter the competition, you will need to upload a photo and video review of their favourite recent gig experience – then "friends" of the Vodafone Music Reporter community will decide on who are the best.

The winner will then join an MTV crew for a day of recording and will have a chance to record their report on-site for the show.

I have one word to say – interesting?

The new design is part of a global redesign, in an attempt to widen its demographics and boost user engagement -following Facebook. As well, in what is called the largest scale relaunch of its size, it will change its homepage, navigation, profile editing, search and its MySpaceTV player.

Other changes will come in the summer, but we do not know what they are. The main phase is set for June 18.

Reuters is also reporting that it will be working with Lucene Open-Source engine and community, marking the first time that MySpace will contribute to the open-source community.

From the screenshots we have seen, it looks really well. But we will get our editors’ opinions on it – as James and Stewart really do love MySpace.

The US-based site will face strong competition from the market leader Cyworld, which has 18 million users, but has presented itself a new design that is different than the other versions as well.

MySpace has also plans to expand into India soon.

As part of the deal, MySpace will spun out its Music service as an independent joint venture with Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music. EMI, the forth major label, is not part of the deal but they are in negotiations saying it would join soon. All three music companies signing up now will have minority stakes in the company.

Visitors to the site will be able to listen to the music for free via streaming with advertising and are allowed to create customized playlists with their ‘friends’. They will also download the tracks to play on mobile and audio devices, putting it in the competition with similar music stores from eMusic, Amazon and Apple.

The subscription-based component of the site will see users paying a monthly amount to download unlimited tracks, rivaling eMusic, is being considered.

Terms of the deals and details about the site, like the price of the downloadable songs, were not disclosed but there is some good news. The songs that you download will not have any digital rights management (DRM) software. This means that you can play the music on any music player, including the iPod and the Zune.

Universal Music, however, has a pending lawsuit against MySpace for copyright infringement from 2006. It has not said that it has been dropped.

That’s great for me… but still, the loser is still MySpace because it’s not reaching everyone around Australia. It’s still stupid, but a very ‘good’ plan to ‘attract’ users to Optus.