Many people around the world were saddened over the news of the sudden death of pop star Michael Jackson. But the King of Pop’s passing also impacted the tech world as millions of fans flocked to Twitter, Facebook and various news sites to soak up Jackson-related information. The result was an impact on the Internet we haven’t seen since the Great Google Lapse of 2009.

TMZ: Scoop or Fail?
TMZ was the first news service out of the gate with news about Michael Jackson’s death. Initially, TMZ quoted unnamed sources about the singer’s death, but did it really have the scoop?

Maybe not, says technology writer Mike Elgan on his personal blog The Raw Feed. Although Elgan can’t say for sure whether TMZ had solid information, the writer notes that someone had created a phony news story using an online tool that creates fake news items. The bogus story was from a nonexistent news service called Global Associated News. Before long, tweeters were linking back to GAN’s phony report, with links growing at a rate of 10 per second for half an hour, Elgan says. The funny thing is, the tweets and the fake story all happened before TMZ broke the news using anonymous sources.

So did TMZ base its initial report on the phony news story or did it base its report on legitimate sources of information? I’m guessing TMZ’s story was the real thing, but Elgan’s theory is an interesting take on what can happen when news sources and social media collide.

Twitter Rumors
While some tweets were linking back to the fake Michael Jackson news story, other Twitter users were having their own fun with the Twitter-based rumor mill. Lost among the Michael Jackson tweets were claims that other celebrities had also died, including Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford. Those stories turned out to be bogus, but many people were taken in by the hoax, at least initially.

Twitter and AIM Fail
Twitter’s infamous fail whale hasn’t been seen very often in recent months, but yesterday it was on full display during the Jackson fallout. Twitter co-founder Biz stone told The Los Angeles Times the microblogging site “saw an instant doubling of tweets per second the moment the story broke.” Twitter hadn’t seen that kind of activity since last year’s U.S. presidential election. The result was a slowing of the entire service, and the fail whale made frequent, albeit brief, appearances throughout the Jackson news wave. Twitter’s search capabilities were also briefly affected.

It’s interesting to note that the voracious appetite for Twitter updates about recent problems in Iran has not seriously impacted Twitter. After days of tweets about election rigging and street violence there was no noticeable impact on Twitter’s service, but Jackson dies and the Twitosphere comes crashing down under the weight of the singer’s popularity.

AOL Instant Messenger also had problems, largely due to bad timing on AIM’s part. The instant messaging service was scheduled for maintenance right around the time the Jackson news broke. Responding to PC World’s inquiries about AIM’s blackout, AOL put out the following statement: “At AOL our AIM instant messaging service was undergoing a previously scheduled software update which should normally prove routine. It proved not to be. There was a significant increase in traffic due to today’s news and AIM was down for approximately 40 minutes this afternoon.” Obviously, the news AOL referred to is Jackson’s death. The company said it has “never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth. Historically, celebrity news prompts a worldwide outpouring with several key consumer behaviors — searching, sharing and reacting to the news followed by online tributes has become the modern way to mourn.”

WWW Fail
We’ve been hearing doomsday predictions about the end of the Internet for some time. The basic premise is that in the next few years, the Internet’s infrastructure needs a drastic overhaul before it bursts apart at the seams.

While some would like to believe otherwise, the news of Jackson’s death didn’t kill the Internet. However, some segments of the World Wide Web definitely experienced overloads that caused some sites to go dark or at least slow down. The load times for major news sites slowed down from four seconds to nine seconds, according to Venture Beat. Impacted sites included ABC, AOL, LA Times, CNN Money, and CBS.

The Los Angeles Times, one of the first trusted news source to verify Jackson’s death, reported nearly 2.3 million page views in just one hour — the highest traffic the newspaper has experienced in such a short time. That page view record beats any hour during the Times’ highest traffic day of all time — November 5, 2008, the day after Barack Obama was elected President.

Akamai, a tech firm that tracks Internet usage, reported that North America’s most popular news sites experienced a traffic influx 20% above average during the height of the Jackson story.

Final Impact
While some portions of the Internet were creaking under the pressure, Wikipedia users engaged in a brief editing war over Michael Jackson’s entry. Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia editors eventually locked out changes to Jackson’s page until hard news sites verified Jackson’s death. By morning, Michael Jackson had taken the top four spots on the iTunes 100 top albums sold.

It’s interesting to note that despite the constant tweets and TMZ’s early pronouncement, a lot of people were reluctant to believe Jackson was gone until a more credible news source — so-called old media — verified the entertainer’s death. So Jackson’s death didn’t bring down the Internet, and it reminds us that new media like Twitter, Facebook, and The Huffington Post can only enhance our news experience, but these online resources are no substitute for traditional, hard-nosed reporting.

D-Link International, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of network products, led the worldwide Ethernet small enterprise switch port shipments in 2008, according to the ‘Market Share: Enterprise Ethernet Switches, Worldwide, 2008a’ report by Gartner. In the same report, D-Link also obtained the second position in total switch port shipments – far surpassing its nearest competitors.

According to the March 26 report, D-Link captured the top spot for Ethernet switch port shipments for small enterprises worldwide, with a market share of 32% worldwide. In 2008, D-Link shipped more than 13 million small enterprise switch ports worldwide.

This annual research study by Gartner also revealed that D-Link claimed the second spot in total switch port shipments worldwide, with 16.3% market share for Medium-Large Enterprise and Small Enterprise combined. In 2008, D-Link’s total switch shipments grew slightly from 15.3% in 2007 to 16.3%.

Similarly, a ’4Q08 Ethernet Switch Market Analysis’ report by In-Stat in March showed D-Link’s number one position in the worldwide Ethernet unmanaged switch port shipments with 35.1% market share, 15.8% ahead of second place Netgear, which has a market share of 17%.

“D-Link has not only solidified a strong lead in the shipments of unmanaged ports, but continues to show strong growth in managed port shipments year over year, a clear indication that the market is confident with the technology that it has to offer,” said Norm Bogen, In-Stat’s director of networking.

“By maintaining a leading market share in Ethernet port shipments worldwide, D-Link is providing millions of connections that enable consumers and businesses to realize greater productivity,” said Mr Desmond Toh, marketing director, D-Link International Pte Ltd. “As our volume increases, our goal remains to offer the best value proposition to our customers, and that means the highest performance at the most aggressive prices on all our end-to-end networking solutions.”

D-Link has been a pioneer in business networking for more than two decades. D-Link switches play a crucial role by providing the necessary infrastructure for wired or wireless communication in businesses and organizations. They are available with up to 48 ports in a variety of convenient configurations – Layer 2 or 3, Managed or Unmanaged, Web Smart, Gigabit Ethernet, PoE and Unified Wireless – to meet the needs of all business applications.

D-Link’s xStack Switch solutions for medium to large enterprise environments enable businesses to deploy and easily manage a LAN architecture that delivers robust network connectivity, scalability, security, standards-based interoperability and lifetime warranties.

As the first company to introduce Green networking solutions, D-Link now offers a complete line of Green Technology switches, that automatically detect a device link status and reduces the power usage of ports that are not linked. When detecting a link down, D-Link Green switches save power usage without sacrificing network performance.

By Juan Carlos Perez
IDG News Service

Publishers with custom domains hosted on Google‘s Blogger blog-publishing service have been losing traffic for the past week due to a bug affecting how visitors get redirected from the Blogger domain to the publishers’ own domains.

The problem hits when someone tries to visit a blog by going to its Blogspot URL, which follows the format: BlogName.Blogspot.com, instead of going directly to the site’s custom domain.

Ironically, Google is among the publishers affected by the problem, as can be seen by attempting to visit the company’s official blog for its Orkut social network through its Blogspot address. Under normal circumstances, the visitor would be automatically redirected to the custom domain URL, which in the case of the Orkut blog is http://en.blog.orkut.com/.

While the problem is caused by an issue in a Blogger system, its severity varies depending on which browser Web site visitors are using. For example, internal tests at IDG News Service showed that visitors using Firefox 3 or Safari 4 will see a page that warns them they are about to be redirected to a blog that isn’t hosted on Blogger. The page states that the site “has not been checked for spam, viruses and other forms of malware” and gives the user the option to proceed to the page or not. It’s safe to assume that Web surfers with an average sense of caution will not click through to the site, considering the terse warning.

While this is bad enough, the situation gets even worse with Internet Explorer 7, which shows visitors an error page that says the browser can’t display the Web site, giving the sense that the site either doesn’t exist or is offline.

Publishers began reporting the problem on Tuesday of last week in the official Blogger Help discussion forum, and Google acknowledged that it’s working on a solution on Wednesday.

The problem remains unsolved at press time.

By Rick Broida
PC World (US) 

Here’s a little-known advantage to using Internet Explorer 8: It lets you access multiple Gmail accounts simultaneously and independently.

This is accomplished via the New Session option, which makes it possible to log onto Web sites that track your identity across different tabs–like Gmail.

In Firefox, for instance, you can’t have multiple Gmail accounts open in multiple tabs or Windows. If you sign into a second one, you’ll get signed out of the first one when you try to do anything.

Here’s how to take advantage of this IE8 perk:

1. Run Internet Explorer 8 and open Gmail. Make sure theRemember Meoption is unchecked when you sign in.

2. Press Alt-F, I, and then hitEnter. This will open a new Internet Explorer session (which for all intents and purposes is the same as a new IE window).

3. Open Gmail and sign into your second account, again making sure to uncheck Remember Me.

That’s all there is to it! This should work with other Webmail accounts and services that don’t like multiple sessions running simultaneously.

I know it’s not a perfect solution, especially if you prefer Gmail to remember your username and password from one session to the next. Here’s hoping Microsoft will further tweak IE’s New Session feature to support this option.

COVER STORY

The Best Free Stuff You’ve Never Heard Of
By Preston Gralla & Adam Pash

By now, you’re familiar with the biggest free online apps and services. So we went looking for the hidden gems that people will be talking about next year. No matter your interest, you’re sure to find plenty of great tools here.

FEATURES

Made-for-TV Media Drives
By Jon L. Jacobi & Melissa J. Perenson

These specialized devices offer a ton of storage and let you play music and view pictures and videos on your TV. Though such products have some limitations, we found a few models that qualify for star status.

NEXT

Headliners
MSI X-SlimX340
Acer Timeline
Asus Eee PC Seashell 1008HA
HTC Touch Diamond 2
HTC Touch Pro 2
CTIA Wireless 09

Launch Pad
Latest Accessories from Genius
Fresh from the Asus Plant
Nokia’s Low-Cost Mobile E-mail-Geared Phones

New Service
Nokia Revamps Mobile E-mail Support

Next-Gen Storage
OCZ offers fast 1TB SSD drive for your PCI-E slot

MashUp
The Ultimate Desktop Replacement Laptop

SPOTLIGHT

Netbooks
Asus Eee PC S101H
Asus Eee PC 1000HE
MSI Wind U100X

Speakers
Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass

Motherboard
Asus M4A79 Deluxe

Graphics Card
MSI R4890 T2D1G OC

Smartphone
Samsung Memoir

Digital Cameras
Top 5 Advanced Cameras

Media Streaming Devices
Seagate FreeAgent Theater
Western Digital WDTV

REGULAR

GeekTech
By Mike Keller

Give your laptop access to the Internet without using Wi-Fi, by tapping your iPhone’s signal.

BetaWatch
By Edward N. Alpro

Cc:Betty lets you transform any e-mail message into an online discussion thread, Home-Account aims to demystify the mortgage process and lets you refinance your home without a mortgage broker, and SmartyCard rewards the kids for bringing their A-game.

Net Work
By Richard Morochove

Not all online backup service offer the same level of business-data protection. Here’s how to choose one wisely.

Download This
By Erik Larkin, Preston Gralla & Ian Harac

The best software doesn’t just handle a task — it broadens your horizons. And these three programs do just that.

Privacy Watch

Will new tracker tools for you cell phone give you aways? Location-tracking apps for cell phones can be a privacy nightmare unless you take precautions.

Bugs & Fixes
By Erik Larkin

Adobe Reader, IE 7 holes under attack. Plus read about new flaws in Firefox, RealPlayer and Visio, and their fixes.

Hassle-Free PC
By Rick Broida

Three simple solutions to everyday Windows annouyances — tricks for making your mouse’s scroll wheel work properly in Windows, for popping out memory cards and for shutting down your PC without a single press of the power button.

MACWORLD

Add an OS 9-like App Menu to OS X
Safari 4 Beta Speeds Up Web Browsing

THE GAMING FRONT

Preview
Bioshock 2

Review
Plants vs Zombies
Five Things  We Love / Hate About Nintendo’s DSI

HOW TO

Reinstall and Restore Your Windows CD
Change the Date in Your  Digital Photo
Make Vista Look, Feel and Act More Like Windows 7
Encrypt USB Flash Drives With a Free Download
Insert Special Text Characters or Symbols Into Any Document
Share Photos easily With Anyone, Anywhere

Asnwer Line
Backup Your Windows Registry
Increase Your On-board Graphics Memory

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend) is proud to announce that its popular 1.8-inch SSD18M portable solid state drive is fully tested to meet strict U.S. military drop-test standards. This emphasizes the fact that Transcend’s SSD18M not only features stylish good looks and high-speed data transfer rates, but also robust durability that sets a new standard for modern solid state drives.

Transcend’s design team devoted themselves to ensuring portable SSD18M is the safest device to store personal data, as it offers excellent protection against both vibration and impact damage. Adopting a comprehensive test method that conforms to rigorous U.S. military standards (MIL-STD-810F 516.5-Transit Drop), the test laboratory makes sure the SSD18M is able to withstand direct impact and protect stored data from drops effectively. Aside from shock-resistant feature, the SSD18M comes with both eSATA and USB2.0 interface options to offer the ultimate in connection flexibility and performance, with read speeds of up to 90MB/s and write speeds up to 50MB/s. In addition, the SSD18M’s chic gloss diamond pattern fascia also distinguishes it as a genuinely fashionable device.

Measuring only 80mm x 50mm x 12.5mm and weighting just 50g, Transcend’s SSD18M portable solid state drive provides ultra-portable convenience-with a comfortable shape that fits perfectly in a pocket, briefcase or purse. Combining portability, speed, and shockproof durability inside an extremely elegant exterior, these features have earned the SSD18M multiple “editor’s choice” awards from worldwide leading IT publications. Now available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, Transcend’s 1.8″ portable solid state drives are backed by a two-year warranty with the support of a comprehensive global service network.

About Transcend
Transcend is a globally recognized leader in the manufacture of storage and multimedia products. Established in 1988, Transcend offers a full line of standard and proprietary memory modules, flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid-state drives, digital music players, card readers and multimedia products. Transcend has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China, and has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. For more information, please visit www.transcendusa.com.

AirLive recently introduced their next generation of Outdoor CPE equipment, starting with the AirMax5, a 5GHz 108Mbps Wireless Outdoor CPE.

The AirMax5 is the latest CPE in AirLive’s line of outdoor CPE products. Designed for power and performance, the core of AirLive AirMax5 comprises of a 23dBm 802.11a 108Mbps radio that is capable to run in both Turbo A and Super A modes. Together with two 14dBi antennas and a highly efficient firmware, AirMax5 can easily transmit data over a distance of 3km and beyond. Airmax 5 is a CPE that is able to perform at the highest level and being cost effective at the same time.

Through advance and intelligent circuit board design, AirMax5 provides a streamline connection that will bring the best out of its components, allowing them to run at an optimized level and reducing power loss.

Another plus point with the AirMax5 lies in its firmware. AirMax5 OS is based on Atheros Original drivers, and together with additional functions, AirMax5 firmware is one of the few that provide both stability and functionality.

Other features include durable and weatherproof housing, double mounting system, Antenna Alignment LED and advanced passive PoE that allows up to 100m always from power source.

For more information about the above products, please visit the AirMax5 product page here.

About AirLive
AirLive provides products including Wireless, IP, Security, Broadband communication system and advanced innovations for home connections, SOHO and SMB. “Simple yet powerful networking” is the philosophy behind our entire product line. AirLive products are like trustable and dependable friends for yourself and your organization. AirLive is in your life! For more information about AirLive products, please contact your respective dealers or visit our website: www.airlive.com.

7x closer. 7x more exciting.

The popular Olympus µ series has once again raised the bar for combining sumptuous design with powerful opto-digital technology. Featuring optical zooms ranging from 5x in the µ-5000, 7x in the µ-7000, to a phenomenal 10x in the µ-9000, this latest generation of the legendary Olympus µ series continues the story of superior optics and ultra-slim bodied chic. Epitomizing the Olympus “miniaturized optics, maximized brilliance” philosophy, these state-of-the-art 12 Mega pixel cameras each include Dual Image Stabilization, Shadow Adjustment Technology and Face Detection Technology in their impressive treasure trove of high-tech capabilities.

Handling and navigation is easy due to illuminated buttons for low-light conditions. In addition, an all-new Beauty Mode smoothes out imperfections from the final image for a flawless-looking complexion, and the innovative Intelligent Auto Mode automatically identifies five commonly-encountered types of scenes and adjusts settings accordingly. An In-Camera Panorama mode is also included for particularly expansive or creative shots. The three new members of the classic µ series each come with 39 languages on board and are xD-Picture Card and microSD compatible.

The 12 Mega pixel µ-7000 incorporates a versatile 7x optical zoom (37-260mm*) and a big 7.6cm/3.0” Hyper Crystal II LCD to facilitate ultra-convenient framing and viewing. This elegant model also features a clever Smile Shot function which ensures that those being photographed are at their smiling best – because the camera doesn’t trip the shutter until the pearly whites have been flashed.

The µ-7000 comes in three attractive colors: Starry Silver, Midnight Black and Ocean Blue.

3-meter waterproof, dustproof design for active photographers.

Olympus’s exciting new µWater Series is made up of more casual versions of the existing µTOUGH Series of digital cameras, which are renowned for extremely rugged designs that feature outstanding waterproof, shockproof, and freeze proof capabilities. Inheriting the µTOUGH Series’ waterproof and dustproof capabilities, the µ-550WP – the first in the new µWater series – is an entry-level waterproof camera that makes it easy anyone to experience the fun and excitement of underwater shooting.

The µ-550WP is a digital camera with a 10-megapixel CCD*3 and a 3X optical zoom lens supported by outstanding waterproof performance*1 to a depth of 3 meters and excellent dustproof performance*2 that effectively keeps out sand and dirt. These features make this camera a great choice for the pool or the beach, and can even handle more demanding marine sports such as surfing or water skiing. And since it can be washed with water whenever it gets dirty, this rugged little camera can be used just about anywhere, including when playing with children in a sandbox as well as when preparing food in the kitchen. Also featured on this camera is Olympus’s advanced Intelligent Auto function. A step above conventional automatic camera systems, Intelligent Auto analyzes the composition to determine what kind of scene it is and automatically applies the most appropriate settings, All users have to do is set the mode dial to i-AUTO and the µ-550WP takes care of the rest, allowing them to relax and take pictures without worrying about selecting the right type of scene or settings even in conditions that conventional AUTO modes find difficult to handle.

Four Thirds System compliant intermediate-level model with Art Filter function for creative photographic expression.

The E-30 is positioned as a mid-level model between the E-520 and the E-3 models. In addition to inheriting the superior image quality and high-speed performance of the E-3, it offers a wealth of new features designed to expand the photographer’s range of creative and artistic expression.

Six Art Filters, including a bright, colorful, Pop Art filter and a dreamy, ethereal, Soft Focus filter, enable anyone to easily achieve modes of photographic expression that ordinarily require the use of special lenses, add-on filters, or the use of complex image processing techniques. Although the E-30′s standard aspect ratio is 4:3, it offers a choice of 9 different aspect ratios, including wide-screen 16:9 and medium-format 6:6. In addition, it makes Live View shooting more enjoyable with a High-Speed Imager AF that enables autofocusing with compact-camera ease, and a dual-axis, variable-angle monitor that supports both horizontal- and vertical-format Live View shooting.

The highest standard of image quality is assured by the E-30′s newly developed 12.3-megapixel, high-speed Live MOS Sensor and new TruePic III+ image processing engine. It also boasts a built-in image stabilization system that offers up to 5EV* steps of shake compensation, and works with the entire range of Four Thirds System lenses, from wide-angle to telephoto, as well as macro and fisheye lenses.

The E-30 also offers outstanding high-speed performance, and incorporates the same 11-point, twin-cross AF sensor, 5 fps high-speed continuous shooting, and 1/8000 sec. high-speed shutter featured on the Olympus E-3.

To provide an ever-wider range of offerings for entry-level, intermediate, and professional digital SLR photographers, Olympus will continue to develop and expand its lineup of digital SLR systems that comply with the Four Thirds System standard.