Author: JD Rucker

Some find it delicious and others think it’s disgusting. It’s also very popular in Hawaii… Oh, wait, that’s not he spam we’re talking about here, is it? Email spam is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding new and inventive ways to get into our view and through to our computers so we may click on a link, order a service, download something or another, or just plain read whatever it is that someone somewhere has to say. We may hate it, but it’s part of our lives. Just as junkmail used to fill our mailbox, spam now fills our inbox. It’s the way of the world. This infographic from Wikibon tells an…

Venture Capitalists and private investment analysts often throw out lofty numbers when talking about the value of a company, but such entities rarely make substantial investments based upon those claims. When “The Street” makes such a valuation, there is normally real money involved. Such is the case with Facebook as respected investment firm Goldman Sachs and an undisclosed Russian firm have plopped down $500 million against a $50 billion valuation. That kind of money will poise Facebook to bring in more talent, improve infrastructure, and take some risks with their monetization platform….

It became one of the top memes of 2010. And just like that, it’s gone. Wikipedia announced this morning that they had reached their goal of $16,000,000 to keep the site ad-free, more than double their results from a year ago. Perhaps more impressive is that they did it in less time than any of their previous fundraisers. As the world’s 5th largest website, Wikipedia is a darling for the search engines as the closest thing the Internet can produce to an Encyclopedia. Because of the sheer volume of accumulated world knowledge, the crowdsourced junction of data has become the “go to” for everyone from…

Every now and then you come across a piece of art (in this case, a very elaborate drawing) that makes you explore it, stare, and contemplate for several minutes (an eternity in Internet time). This is one of those pieces. It is apparently blown up from an old Canadian publication and is, as QuieroBits puts it in Spanish, an “Incredible Geek Poster.” Take it down to Kinko’s and blow it up, or just recreate it on your own walls. Shouldn’t take too much time. Click to Enlarge. …

The trends are pointing north. The developers are developing. The devices are flying off shelves. With over 200,000 Apps available in the Android Marketplace, the question that nobody who’s anybody is asking is, “Can they catch the iPhone?” They still have a ways to go, but according to unofficial numbers posted by AndroLib, over 25,000 Apps were developed last month and the numbers keep climbing. At 103 downloads per second, they’ll need them. …

Between “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II”, sales totaled over $1.2 billion… in the first 5 days after release. Gamers around the world flocked to stores for midnight releases of the games. Some paid extra, up to $170, to get the special editions of each game, which included working night-vision goggles for MW2 and a camera-mounted RC car for BO. What has made this game franchise so immense in just 7 years? With 4 of the top 10 best selling games of all time wearing the COD badge, Activision’s prized possession has dominated the 1st-person shooter arena and shows no signs…

They never said it would last forever an if unless it’s just a last-second push to get tech blogs to warn people, Microsoft will stop selling the popular Windows 7 Family Pack at the end of this year. According to HotHardware, “12/31/2010 will be the final day Microsoft hosts this deal, and after that, it’s hard to say where these will be in stock.” With more families having three or more computers in their household, the package has seen tremendous popularity. At $150, it represents a 50% savings off buying each individually, even at a discounted rate of $99 each. …

Meanwhile, in Russia… If Google translate is to be trusted, a Russian publication has claimed that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed an order to transition the technological “power structures and the federal budget to free software” starting in the second quarter of 2012. The 17-page document, “Transition Plan of the Federal Authorities and Federal Budgetary Institutions to Free Software,” covers the period from 2011 to 2015. According to Deputy Head of the Ministry of Communications Ilya Massuh, the document describes a complete transition of the federal government and state…

So, you open your Christmas present and there’s a new iPhone or iPod Touch. You want to do two things immediately – download some apps and tell your friends all about it. Why not do both at the same time? Apparently, that’s what around 1.6 million people did in the 3 days surrounding Christmas this year. Android also saw strong gains with over 900,000 downloads in the same time period and 4.7 million since November 27th. Check out the stats on AllFacebook’s interactive graphic….

“I sent one stupid, meaningless text – ‘LOL’ – and killed a man.” When AT&T launched their campaign against texting while driving in March, 2010, they decided that the most important demographic to focus upon were teens and college students. The mixture of inexperience and irresponsibility in the demographic combined with the potential to break a habit before it got started made the most sense. Since then, very little has been done that was extraordinary enough to be more than a gesture of “we’re doing good” that could be used in public relations campaigns. That changed today with the release…