Seeing Me Seeing You, Aha vidphone moment?
The brief surge of interest in Chatroulette this year suggests we’re all a little intrigued at what a person might look like on the end of a connection.
But does that mean video calling on phones, the subject of this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section, is finally going to catch on with the mainstream consumer or just become another passing fad? Read more
Facebook Places is going places
Facebook has today launched its check-in feature, Places, in the UK.
In keeping with Facebook’s cookie-cutter approach to international product rollout, it’s identical to the US version, albeit using a local provider of location information.
But the social network’s ambitions for location-based information don’t stop there. Read more
Bump uses car plates to make connections
Of the 16 social and media technologies making their debut at the Demo conference in Silicon Valley, Bump.com was perhaps the most intriguing and original idea.
It’s social networking through your US number plate, or license plate as it’s called here – with possibilities for dating, car talk, safety messages and receiving offers all wrapped up in your bumper. Read more
Yahoo promises speedier tweaks to core services
Yahoo executives on Thursday outlined plans to improve its mail, news and other main services in the next few months, pledging faster load times, better integration with Facebook and Twitter, and deeper personalisation.
Chief product officer Blake Irving, who has been on the job since April, didn’t signal any bold new direction during the presentation at the company’s Sunnyvale headquarters. Instead, he argued that the company has been on the right track all along and just needs to move faster. 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.
