Back in the day, Network Solutions was the only place to go to buy a .com or any other domain name for that matter. Now, however, they are a distant third behind market giants GoDaddy and eNom. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. Network Solutions charges over four times as much money as other industry leaders do.

Now comes word that Network Solutions is resorting to scamming people. Site’s like Network Solutions have a tool on their page that allows people to look for available websites to register. Now whenever anybody uses this tool on their site, Network Solutions will do more than report back to you whether the site is available or not. If it’s available, Network Solutions will register the domain automatically. In other words, they will say “Hey, yeah it’s available, and the only way you’re going to get it is if you buy it from me.”

Stay away from Network Solutions. You do not want to have to pay $35 for what you can get for $8 or less from other sites that provide the exact same thing! Shame on you, Network Solutions. Shame on you…

Thanks goes to TechCrunch for the scoop

Let’s cut the bullshit out, here is how to torrent; how to download music, shows, movies, games, whatever you want lightning fast and relatively safe (on Windows)

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Comedy Central keeps rolling out their collection of free on-line video clips from some of their best shows. The collection of South Park clips kicks some ass. It is the perfect tool to loop up particular clips you’re telling your friends about. Best of all it’s very up-to-date and you can embed them right onto your site. Continue on for a clip from Imaginationland part II

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Time and time again I’ve heart the claim that Macs do not and cannot get viruses or trojans. Well, I’m proud to announce that a rather nasty trojan has surfaced and is doing a pleasant amount of damage. Pretending to be a video codec that users need to watch certain pornographic videos, trojan OSX.RSPlug.A acts as a DNSChanger that hijacks web requests sent to eBay, PayPal, and several online banking websites.

Thanks to Mashable for the scoop. For more information check out the Intego Security alert.

I must say that I did not see this one coming: MySpace and Google are working together to launch OpenSocial which officially launches tonight!

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What is Metaplace? From the official site:

“Build a virtual apartment and put it on your website. Work with friends to make a huge MMORPG. Share your puzzle game with friends. We have a vision: to let you build anything, and play everything, from anywhere. Eventually, anyway. We have to finish first.”

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Like YouTube, Hulu seeks to deliver the web shows, movies, clips, and more. Unlike YouTube, Hulu videos are high quality. Additionally, Hulu has partnered up for the rights to show programs like The Office, Arrested Development, Prison Break, Heroes, and many more. Hulu has also partnered with content owners such as E!, FUEL, SciFi Network, and USA Networks. Hulu also allows users to share and embed videos. The only downside? It’s currently beta and thus only a limited number of people have access.

Hulu’s Site

Exploratree is a very nice tool when it comes time to explore an idea or project to the fullest. The site features a free library of thinking guides and an online application to visually arrange your project or thoughts.

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Facebook employees look at any profile they want to look at. They do so for fun; for kicks. And they can do more than just that. They can, for example, also see which profiles a user has viewed. One anonymous employee has made it clear: they have access to anything and everything. Employees consider this a job perk and many check such data for fun.

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The web application revolution keeps growing stronger. Yesterday Mozilla posted about their attempt to shrink the gap between a traditional deskptop and new web applications. Their solution, called Prism, is a web application that allows users to run browser-based applications from their desktop. They already have a prototype available for those of you that are interested in giving it a spin.

It happened. Facebook group “1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T Colbert” has surpassed the 1,000,000 member mark! The group, just days old, has demolished the largest Hillary group which is sitting around 488,000 people deep. This comes right after the results of a recent survey suggests that Colbert has the support of 13% of the voters as independent running against Mrs. Bill Clinton and Mr. 911 Rudi Giuliani.

ChannelMe.TV is a network site where users can get their own .tv domain and create, essentially, their own channel. Now ChannelMe is launching an ad revenue-sharing system that is being extended to its users. Users will be able to select from three different categories of ads and even get a cut from the advertisement revenue that they generate for Channel Me. You may recognize this as being similar to Revver’s as indeed it is. YouTube is also in the process of providing advertising options for regular users.

Bottom line: Should be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Most people would not even consider switching from Google to a different search engine. However, there continues to be innovative alternatives out there. Don’t believe that? Try out this list of 140+ search engines and directories.

I admit that I had completely forgotten about SE’s like Lycos, Hotbot, Excite, and WebCrawler but apparently these old-schoolers are all alive and kicking. Oh and how about ChaCha - the search engine that uses live guides to help you search?

Bottom line: Interesting list. I’m sticking with Google.

As if taking down TV-Links and arresting the site’s owner was not enough, British police are at it again. This time they have arrested a 24-year-old server admin and brought OiNK.cd down. They also raided the admin’s employer and the home of his father. Damn.

Popular social-bookmarking Firefox plugin StumbleUpon has received a potentially helpful upgrade. StumbleUpon attempts to improve upon users’ Google results by adding speech balloons and star ratings next to results. These features will indicate to users the number of thumbs up and overall popularity of each Google result as well as links to discussion pages.

Having an account with the Google-acquired GrandCentral and a free dial-in number from the kick-ass Skype alternative known as the Gizmo Project - you can combine the two to get unlimited, and more importantly free, incoming calls.

You will notice that in order to get a free number from the Gizmo Project you will have to settle on Nevada area code 747. This limitation is squashed by GrandCentral’s offering of a wide range of call-in area codes - also for free.

You will also notice that GrandCentral is in Beta and is only accepting a limited number of people. I would recommend you sign up as soon as possible if you want Google to send you the invite. Alternatively, I have some to give away if you contact me at ‘karmarogue {at} gmail {dot} com’.

Bottom line: no matter where you and your computer are, you will be able to receive incoming phone calls for free.

If you haven’t heard the crappy news about TV-Links, I’ll break it to you now: It’s gone and the guy running it has been arrested. How somebody can be arrested for linking to other sites is beyond me but apparently under some bullshit section 92 of the Trade Mark Act you can be arrested “on suspicion of supplying property with a registered trademark without permission.” Whatever. So where do we turn to now that obviously 18 new TV-Links style sites have popped up? Risking my freedom and begging for jail time - I will tell you where!

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Italian bloggers and web site designers are going to have to deal with new regulations. Ricardo Levi, the undersecretary to the President of the Council, has worked up a law to shut the Internet up. Approved on October 12 after unanimous agreement, the Levi-Prodi law requires that anyone with a blog or a website must register it with the ROC, pay a tax, and produce certificates even if they have no intention of making money. Sounds like some real bullshit as having the ability to quickly start blogging is an important reason blogging is so powerful.

Full Article

When a cube decorating contest was announced (with the theme being ‘Games’), Google Data team member Stephanie Liu’s choice was obvious: Mario it the hell out!

Google Goes Mario

It’s extremely simple. Just follow these steps:

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