Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

This is something that I have been looking forward to for a very long time now—MySpace getting a site redesign. With what can only be described with a finally, it seems that MySpace has realized that its website interface is old and is no longer catchy. Hence a site redesign is definitely long overdue.

Of course we understand why it took this too long for MySpace to realize that it badly needs a more vibrant and interactive site, it is after all the largest social network in terms of worldwide and US unique visitors every month, so its almost like why mess with a good thing.

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We all knew that is was just a matter of time before Facebook would finally catch up with MySpace, well at least in the total number of worldwide unique visitors. The latest numbers from comScore show that both MySpace and Facebook registered around 115 million unique visitors coming from all over the world this past April. So, with that we can officially declare that Facebook is no longer the second largest social network. Likewise MySpace is no longer the largest social network. So whoever is the largest social network today would depend on which of the two you like better.

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A new Firefox add-on that does just one thing, it warns you if you attempt to visit a MySpace page. Of course, I cannot imagine that anyone who is using Firefox would have trouble recognizing a MySpace page, and in turn quickly leaving. Which in turn means the add-on is pretty much useless, however it is still more than funny, especially how they refer to MySpace as being an “Internet cesspit.”

Download [AmIOnMySpace] Via [TechCrunch]

We never claim that these criminals are smart, but they always seem to be hitting a new low for stupidity. Recently a 17-year old from Wisconsin has been charged with felony child porn after he posted nude pictures of his 16 year old (i.e. underage) girlfriend on his MySpace page. When contacted by police, Alex Phillips refused to remove the photos, which is where the new low for stupidity comes in, and in turn prompted his arrest. The photos, taken with the unidentified girl’s cellphone, had been given to Phillips while the two were still together. He maintained that he had not intended to cause his ex any harm but admitted it he shouldn’t have done so. He has been charged with distributing child pornography, defamation, and sexual exploitation of a child. He’s facing up to 15 years in prison and if convicted he will be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Via [CrunchGear]

According to a report on Information Week, infamous “Spam King” Sanford Wallace, and his phishing partner Walter Rines were slammed with a whopping $225 million judgment by a U.S. District Court on Monday.

“MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site,” said Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer of MySpace, in an e-mailed statement. “The Federal District Court in Los Angeles awarded MySpace $223,777,500 under the federal CAN-SPAM Act and $1,500,000 under the California anti-phishing statute. User engagement is up 32 percent year over year while spam is significantly decreasing, proving efforts like this are working.”

In October of 2006 the pair began creating bogus MySpace accounts and hijacking over 300,000 others. They then used the compromised accounts to send tens of thousands of spam messages and bomb the comment section of thousands of MySpace pages with links to other spam sites. The popular social networking site sued in 2007. Wallace posted a response to the judgement on his website, claiming he had never been served and that “the check is in the mail.”

Since 1997 Wallace has been sued by many service providers including AOL, Earthlink, and CompuServe, and last year was fined $4 million by the FTC for deceptive advertising and distributing spyware.

Read [InformationWeek]

While rumors about buyouts, mergers and partnerships continue to swirl around them, the number one and number two social network websites are announcing new features and services. MySpace, the top social site, is taking the wraps off of “data availability,” which allows members to easily share public profile information and user-generated content with Yahoo!, Ebay, Flickr and Photobucket.
And Facebook, after hearing complaints from state attorneys general about the threat from child predators and cyberbullies on its website, has agreed to tighten up security to protect its under-18 users. The social network will work with a task force to make sure identities and ages of members can be verified while trying harder to keep inappropriate content - including alcohol and tobacco advertising - from underage eyes. 

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If you have been trying to avoid MySpace but couldn’t just do it because you have accumulated too many contacts in your profile that you don’t want to lose, well soon, you just might ban MySpace from your online life for good. MySpace is set to launch a new feature, albeit an annoying one; MySpace Karaoke.

This could probably be the worst application ever to hit MySpace, not because it is technologically flawed, but because it is definitely a feature that many would find annoying, including yours truly. To be launched on Tuesday, MySpace Karaoke will, heaven forbid, allow users to belt out their favorite songs, record their renditions and stick them up on their MySpace profile, so that their MySpace contacts can rate their performance, no matter how awfully good or bad those performances are.

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MySpace has won its lawsuit against infamous spammer Sanford Wallace, dubbed the “Spam King”. MySpace was awarded a legal judgment after Wallace ignored numerous requests to turn over documents and ultimately failed to show up in court. The suit was filed last year, accusing Wallace of running a phishing scam to access MySpace profiles and then using them to spam thousands of other users in an effort to get them to visit his website. Wallace claimed that since he was not accepting mail or packages, he had missed all the notifications of his court dates. The court didn’t buy it.

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MySpaceTV shows will soon be available on television and DVD’s elsewhere aside from the United States as MySpace owner’s very own daughter promises to help its distribution. Elizabeth Murdoch, through her company Shine Group is set on making MySpace a media platform that will set it apart from rival Facebook.

Despite the challenges facing the Web TV market brought about by the prolonged U.S. writers strike and the lackluster performance of MySpaceTV’s previous take on Web TV broadcasting via its “Quarterlife” show, Shine Group still believes that since Web TV is still a work in progress, MySpace will soon get its time in the Web TV market.

For the first venture of the Shine Group backed MySpace TV, the legendary horror film “Beyond the Rave” which is a UK co-production deal, will debut on MySpaceTV on April 17. The show will be aired in four to five minute installments.

Read [Reuters]

Everex has just announced their new mini PC, the MyMiniPC and have dedicated it to the “+100,000,000 MySpace users of the world.” The limited edition of the gPC mini (MyMiniPC) is running a special edition of gOS, called gOS Space 2.9 that has built-in support for MySpace. Aside from the built-in support for MySpace users Everex has also included some pretty solid features, which includes a 3D desktop and OS X style dock with a stacks like feature. Similar to other versions of gOS, the dock is pre-loaded with a mix of software such as Firefox and Skype, but now also includes a more media-centric stacks with links for MySpace, Music, TV & Movies, Fun and of course Work. 

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