Home Weekly Wrap-Up: Google’s Big Fine, Twitter’s Upcoming App Leaked and the Dangers of IPAA

Weekly Wrap-Up: Google’s Big Fine, Twitter’s Upcoming App Leaked and the Dangers of IPAA

We explain why Google just received the largest privacy fine in history. Leaked screenshots of Twitter’s upcoming iPhone app tell us a great deal about what to expect. The IPAA shares some disturbing privacy issues with SOPA.

Google Gets the Biggest FTC Privacy Fine in History – and Deserves It

Google is about to settle with the Federal Trade Commission for $22.5 million for violating the privacy settings of Apple’s Safari browser. Apple’s default setting prevented third-party sites from tracking users as they visited different sites, but Google (and several other, less reputable companies) exploited a loophole to do it anyway. More

Leaked Twitter iPhone App Update: Here’s What to Expect

If you tweet from your iPhone, get ready for big changes. Twitter’s official iOS app is about to get a meaty upgrade, judging by screen shots leaked from the App Store. Twitter 4.3 for iPhone is expected to deliver deeper interactivity, improvements to search and more granular push notification settings, among other things. More

SOPA Lives! New Bill Seeks to Resurrect Expansion of IP Enforcement Powers

A new bill is about to be officially introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives that would resurrect some unsavory aspects of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that sparked widespread protests last winter. More

More Top Stories

Get Your Startup Into a Top Accelerator: 4 Insider Tips

The top startup accelerators in the world – programs like TechStars and Y Combinator – receive a couple thousand applications for just a handful of spots each session. It’s harder to get into one than Harvard or Stanford. So how do you do it? More

Kippt Reinvents the Internet’s Favorite Hobby: Sharing Links

With its update on Monday, the link listing tool Kippt adds social features that make it a one-stop shop for practicing the Internet’s favorite hobby: sharing interesting links. It helps you keep track of links you like, as well as find and follow people who share interesting things. You can easily share links with your friends on Facebook or wherever else, but your list belongs to you instead of disappearing into the Facebook ether. It’s the kind of thing you probably won’t know you need until you try it. More

Apple’s App Store Secrecy Hurts Indie Developers

The timer in the built-in Clock app on the iPhone sucks, so David Barnard built a new one, Timer. But if you search for “timer” in the App Store, you won’t find it. Because of Apple’s obscure, ever-shifting search method, making the best timer in the store is not enough. Barnard invested $7,000 to build this app. It’s the best timer iOS could ask for. Instead of a fiddly, spinning wheel, it has giant buttons that represent preset periods of time. All you have to do to start a timer is tap the interval you want. To set a new one on the fly, you dial it in with the full-sized phone keypad. It’s fast, smooth, easy on the eyes, and it costs a buck. More

From Contest to Company: 6 Tips for Taking a Startup to the Next Level

From hackathons to programming contests to business plan competitions, competitive events are a great way to test the potential appeal and viability of a startup idea. But what happens after the contest? Win or lose, how can a new company make the most of the experience and the exposure? Let’s say your team was good enough – and lucky enough – to make it to the finals of one of these events – or maybe you even won the grand prize. After you have had a chance to get some sleep and gather your thoughts, then what? More

What Is the Point of: Google+ Hangouts?

Whenever a new Web trend comes along, people ask, “What is the point of this?” If millions of people are using something, there has to be a reason. In our What Is the Point of… series, we’ll explain it to you. This week, we’re asking, What is the point of Google+ Hangouts? It hasn’t exactly taken over the world yet, but Google+ has become the social backbone of all Google’s services. If you “upgrade” your Google account to Google+, as more than 200 million people have, your profile becomes the way people find you in search and communicate with you across the Google-sphere. More

Russia’s New Censorship Law Diminishes the Entire Internet

Russia’s new Web blacklist is only the most recent of an alarming series of authoritarian moves to muzzle networked communications. National governments bent on censorship are eating away at the global, public Internet. On Wednesday, the Russian parliament’s lower house approved legislation that would block Web pages selectively. The proposed law reportedly lets officials filter out specific domain names and IP addresses. Law enforcement agencies could add URLs to the blacklist without a court order. Hosting services would need to remove banned materials within 72 hours or risk being shut down. More

Teen Sexting Really Does Mean Teen Sex

For all the parental and media hand-wringing, sexting remains a poorly studied phenomenon. But according to new peer-reviewed research, that concern might not be unfounded. Teen texts are indeed ablaze with sexual content – but how does technology-based sexual activity intersect with actual behavior? More

ReadWriteWeb Channels

Start

Biz

Enterprise

Follow ReadWriteEnterprise on Twitter.

Hack

Follow ReadWriteHack on Twitter.

Mobile

Follow ReadWriteMobile on Twitter.

ReadWriteWeb Community

You can find ReadWriteWeb in many places on the Web, a few of which are below.

Subscribe to the ReadWriteWeb Weekly Wrap-Up

Want to have this wrap-up delivered to you automagically? You can subscribe to the Weekly Wrap-Up by RSS or by email.

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Get the biggest tech headlines of the day delivered to your inbox

    By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

    Tech News

    Explore the latest in tech with our Tech News. We cut through the noise for concise, relevant updates, keeping you informed about the rapidly evolving tech landscape with curated content that separates signal from noise.

    In-Depth Tech Stories

    Explore tech impact in In-Depth Stories. Narrative data journalism offers comprehensive analyses, revealing stories behind data. Understand industry trends for a deeper perspective on tech's intricate relationships with society.

    Expert Reviews

    Empower decisions with Expert Reviews, merging industry expertise and insightful analysis. Delve into tech intricacies, get the best deals, and stay ahead with our trustworthy guide to navigating the ever-changing tech market.