What’s in a name?
Well, it had to happen. Lulu has just sued Hulu.
Never mind that the former is an online book publishing company, the latter the name just adopted by the new joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. On the consumer internet, truly original – and suitably catchy – names must be getting hard to find. Read more
Facebook sought to reassure its users today as it announced that their Facebook pictures and user names would soon begin showing up in online search results. By explaining its move to open its site to search engines well in advance, Facebook was attempting to avoid a hubbub like the one that erupted last year after it began displaying profile updates, relationship changes and other personal information in a centralised "news feed" on users’ profile pages.
That move sparked an uproar as users inveighed against what they considered to be an excessively intrusive new feature. Facebook’s explanation – that the information displayed in the news feed was no different than what users could already see by digging through friends’ profiles – fell on deaf ears, and Facebook was forced to backtrack. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
