Google abandons online answer service

Associated Press:  Google to abandon online answer service

One Laptop Per Child effort moves forward

NY Times: For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs Big Debate. (NYT photo of MIT's Walter Bender, left, and Nicholas Negroponte) Excerpt:

The nonprofit project, One Laptop Per Child, [has won] over many skeptics over the last two and a half years. Five countries — Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand — have made tentative commitments to put the computers into the hands of millions of students, with production in Taiwan expected to begin by mid-2007.

The laptop does not come with a  Microsoft Windows operating system or even a hard drive, and the screen is small. And the cost is now closer to $150 than $100. But the price tag, even compared with low-end $500 laptops now widely available, transforms the economic equation for developing countries. ...

The idea is also that children can take on much of the responsibility for maintaining the systems, rather than relying on or creating bureaucracies to do so.

“We believe you have to leverage the kids themselves,” Ms. Jepsen said. “They’re learning machines.” As an example, she pointed to the backlight used by the laptop. Although it is designed to last five years, if it fails it can be replaced as simply as batteries are replaced in a flashlight. It is something a child can do, she said. ...

Mr. Negroponte said the manufacturing cost was now below $150 and that it would fall below $100 by the end of 2008.

Yahoo launches mobile social-networking service

Information Week: Yahoo Quietly Launches Mobile Social-Networking Service

Yahoo is quietly launching an experimental site, called Mixd, that allows mobile-phone users to send text messages and share videos and pictures with friends. Yahoo plans to market Mixd on U.S. college campuses. News Corp.'s MySpace is developing mobile services for its users.

Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.

Om Malik to launch two new blogs

TechEffect: Om Malik to launch two new blogs.

Do you need a Web publicist?

Christian Science Monitor: Do you need a Web publicist? 'Identity managers' act as agents, lawyers, enablers – and enforcers – for lives lived increasingly online. Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.

What would techies do with a newspaper?

USA Today: What Would Techies Do with a Newspaper? Internet entrepreneurs are asked: If you owned a newspaper, what would you do with it?

Other than getting out of paper, the techies almost universally came up with two main suggestions: turn newspapers into models of Web 2.0-style open media, and go super local, essentially becoming the town Yahoo.

BitTorrent's video deals with the studios

San Jose Mercury News: BitTorrent cuts online video deals

User-created Web content soars

Hollywood Reporter: User-created Web content soars. Increasing numbers of Americans are posting their own content online, says a new USC-Annenberg Digital Future Project survey.

Sun's new mashup site

Sun Microsystems today launched a site called The Big Mashup: How the network is changing entertainment and news gathering in the Participation Age. Particpants include Andrew Baron, Douglas Rushkoff, DJ Spooky and others.

NewsTrust launches

Fabrice Florin, the founder, announced that NewsTrust just launched its beta website today. It's a community-driven guide to good journalism. The site now has more than 1,600 members. Worth a look.