Quick Update of Big News

Here's some of the biggest news of the past couple of weeks:

Facebook is implementing real-time search, and also just acquired FriendFeed.

Yahoo & Microsoft have formally announced plans to merge their Bing and Yahoo search services somehow. Everyone has seen this coming, but they've finally confirmed it.

Google's Webmaster Central team says of the "Caffeine" update: "It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions." As with every algorithm update, confusion and bizarre assumptions abound. Now Matt will spend a few weeks answering dopey questions as usual.

Macs At Twitter, Social CEOs, Gmail, Youtube...

Here's a look behind the scenes at Twitter, highlighting their exclusive use of Macs and Apple software.

Here's an article about how the elite Fortune 100 CEOs basically don’t use social media.

Gmail got some new features. The official Gmail blog has an overview. As usual, Google makes a huge deal out of another microscopic and potentially useless update, this time the ability to label messages.

YouTube lets you customize your channel page. So far you can change colors and add a header and background. Check the official YouTube video blog for more news.

The Most Illegal Broadcasts Imaginable

This past week I watched The Proposal, The Hangover, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Transformers 2 on my computer for free. All of these are currently in theaters.

Keep in mind I haven't downloaded anything, I merely tuned in to Justin.tv and watched them stream across the internet. No sign-up, no download, no obligation. You just go to the site and watch whatever they are playing.

I don't understand how this site is still operating, or why people haven't been fined and/or thrown in jail. My only guess is that the individuals broadcasting these movies (from their own computers) live in countries that the US can't legally touch, and the site itself is hiding behind the guise of providing a streaming web cam service with no control over what people broadcast. Site ownership is apparently in Bellevue, WA, so surely there will be hell to pay for allowing such blatant and open copyright infringement. I'd bet good money that authorities are allowing it to operate on purpose, and are in the midst of an investigation tracking all the sources of illegal material, and will lay a huge number of charges at some point in the future. In the meantime, I guess we can watch all the movies we want for free.

(P.S. There is a wide variety of movies, TV shows, and pay-per-view. Other flicks I've seen include Twilight, Angels & Demons, Role Models, Get Smart, Step Brothers, Employee Of The Month...)