I am possibly one of the last people around without a Facebook account. Seriously. Next time you’re at a stoplight, look around. Chances are, more than 50% of the people

Facebook and ConnectU have been going through an incredibly futile legal over the last few years. The classic scenario: ConnectU’s founders claim that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea and turned it into “The Facebook” in 2004.

Hat-tip to Valleywag’s Owen Thomas for nailing this situation. HIs facts are clear and there’s no fluff. In a nutshell, ConnectU’s founders come from a large pile of money, have the funds to keep this case going, and out of the $65 Million they’ve one, have about $2.7 million left. Ouch.

Valleywag: Lawyers for ConnectU are bragging about winning a $65 million settlement for their clients from Facebook. But what did Divya Narendra and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss really get from Mark Zuckerberg? Almost nothing.

The Winklevosses and Narendra, Harvard classmates of Zuckerberg, sued him after he launched Facebook, claiming he had done work for their project and then stolen code from it to start Facebook. They reached a settlement last summer in which Facebook agreed to acquire ConnectU for cash and stock — $20 million in cash and 1.25 million shares of Facebook. But then they fired their former lawyers, Quinn Emanuel, amid a contest over legal fees, the value of the settelement, and new evidence they said they’d discovered.

Based on the price Microsoft paid for its 1.6 percent stake in Facebook in the fall of 2007, the stock component of that settlement was worth $45 million. Quinn Emanuel is seeking $13 million in a contingency fee — 20 percent of the total take, which is $65 million as far as ConnectU’s former lawyers are concerned.

But the appraised value of the stock last summer was far less — $11 million, based on a valuation Facebook sought for its own stock-option plan. That’s $34 million of $65 million gone.

At this year’s TED Conference, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates released a swarm of malaria ridden mosquitoes onto the crowd as he explained, “I brought some mosquitoes – we’ll let them roam around the auditorium. There’s no reason only the poor should experience this…”

Shortly after Gates released the mosquitoes, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation confirmed the incident,

Rainn was on Jay Leno on Wednesday, January 27th and announced the upcoming launch of SoulPancake.com. The entire video is below in case you missed it. You can signup for

Microsoft Research has been playing around with something they’re calling Songsmith. Nearly everyone is calling the actual software a joke, and the advertising equally horrendous, but Microsoft has already won by getting even the naysayers to be a tad bit curious.

While most people are clamoring about the fact that an Apple is used in the Microsoft commercial, I can’t help but think that this was done on purpose. Microsoft is well aware that Apple’s cult-like following also has a plethora of seemingly influential websites that write about the company on a daily basis. How else would these Microsoft commercials find their way into Apple devoted websites?

A little introduction: Over at Think Brilliant, we use a suite of web-based applications to manage our company’s communication, directly reach our clients and partners, and generally stay organized. It’s  been developed by a great company based out of Chicago called 37 Signals, and for the most part we have no complaints.

But… The one feature missing from a crucial piece of the puzzle is becoming a nasty liability. One too risky for us to keep avoiding. We’ve tried to keep our mouth shut for months because we know there’s a wall around 37 Signals and they don’t like listening or taking requests for new features. But, we are long time partners who are deeply entangled with our BaseCamp centralization. By this feature being missing, we are considering doing the unthinkable, well until now… and leaving 37 signals.

37 Signals makes 4 pieces of software that can be grouped and used together, or one by one, depending on a particular person or company’s needs.  The products are called Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack and Campfire. In this post, I’m talking about Campfire.

On the 40th anniversary of the Internet, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC tells the story of the effect it is having on our society as seen through the eyes of “the

You all may disagree. But I remain firm on the notion that Google needs a logo redesign. I use the site everyday as a homebase from which to navigate the internet, and quite frankly… The logo is stuck in November 2004. Yes, people are extremely sensitive to change, and perhaps the timing isn’t necessarily the best right now. But I still remain hopeful that Google is considering said design changes, or something similar.

As you can see from the comparison below. From a User Interface standpoint, Google’s current logo uses inner shadows, drop shadows and lighting angles that cast harsh radials and edges on the typeface. It’s not very

In a letter to Apple employees, CEO Steve Jobs announced that he would be taking a medical leave of absence until June due to complex health issues. While the rest

This video is called A walk in the mountain with Julie by Sébastien Abes. Out of all of the video and motion work that I’ve been consuming, this stuff has

So, I offered my buddy one of the new Unibody Macbooks. He turned me down. Here’s the chat thread, I thought it was pretty humorous.

Check out the screenshot

New Years is fun. It’s a time when people feel like they can start over, or if they’re doing great, keep it going for another magical year. Resolutions are something

During a news conference in Iraq on December 14, 2008, an angry Iraqi journalist stood up and threw his shoes at George W. Bush. Bush completely dodged out of the way so both shoes missed hitting him completely.

It was December 8, 1980. Exactly 28 years ago that John Winston Lennon was shot dead in New York City. There aren’t many words that can describe how big of

Jerry Yang is no longer Yahoo’s CEO.

The world is obsessed with technology. Recycling? Not so much.