(via Cybernetnews)

You may THINK you know a lot about Bill Gates, but here are some interesting facts about one of the world's most famous innovators!

1. His SAT score was 1590. The top score for the test is 1600.

2. In 2002, Bill Gates was considered more idolized than Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tungin a poll of teenagers in Hong Kong and China.  The survey was conducted by the City University of Hong Kong.

3. If he drops a thousand-dollar bill, he needn’t even bother to pick it up because in the four seconds it would take him to pick it up, he would’ve already earned it back.

(Read more from Cybernetnews HERE)

One thing you SHOULD know about Bill Gates is that he will be on 'LARRY KING LIVE' tonight at 9pmet, along with his father!  Tune in tonight, and start the comments on what you want to ask him!

Posted by: LKL Producer Hunter Waters
Filed under: Bill Gates • Larry King Live • Technology

By Doug Gross

(CNN) - Calling it their "superphone," Google unveiled the Nexus One on Tuesday, marking the online search giant's first leap into the smartphone market.

The phone, which goes head to head with Apple's darling of the market, the iPhone, is sold only through a Web store operated by Google and, unlike the iPhone and most other current smartphones, is available either with or without mobile service.

"We are very happy to be able to offer a choice," said Mario Queiroz, Google's vice president of product management.

T-Mobile is the initial service provider. Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe will be coming on board later, and more operators are expected.

Already available Tuesday, the phone costs $180 with a contract or $530 unlocked, leaving the phone open to other carriers.

(READ MORE)

Filed under: Technology

By Doug Gross

(CNN) - It's prone to cause drama in the online world.

And, according to the New Oxford American Dictionary, it's the word of the year.

"Unfriend" beat out a tech-heavy field that included "netbook," "hashtag" and "sexting" to take the annual honor.

"It has both currency and potential longevity," said Christine Lindberg, a language researcher for Oxford's U.S. dictionary program. "In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year."

Oxford defines "unfriend," a verb, thusly: "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook."

Every year, Oxford tracks how the English language is changing. Researchers debate the merits of newly birthed terms and choose their word of the year "to reflect the ethos of the year and its lasting potential as a word of cultural significance and use."

A hashtag is the symbol (#) used on Twitter posts to allow them to be found more easily by other users, a netbook is a small portable laptop, and "sexting" is the act of sending sexually explicit texts or photos on a mobile phone.

Other tech-related finalists this year were "paywall," a way of blocking parts of a Web site to all but paying customers, and "intexicated," the state of being distracted while driving because of sending a text message.

The economy provided "zombie bank," a financial institution still operating even though its liabilities are greater than its assets, and politics brought us "birther," which Oxford describes as "a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama's U.S. birth certificate."

(READ MORE)

Filed under: Larry King Live • Technology

In a decision that has privacy advocates and others scratching their heads, a federal judge has ruled that LifeLock has been breaking California law for years by placing fraud alerts on its customer’s credit profiles.

The decision is a blow to the burgeoning identify-theft protection industry, and means that companies that experience data breaches may no longer be able to offer victims free subscriptions to such services — a standard damage-control tactic in recent years. Consumers can still place fraud alerts by contacting one of the three U.S. credit reporting agencies directly.

Bo Holland, founder and CEO of Debix, a competitor of LifeLock, called the ruling “dramatic and unexpected.”

“It causes a real shift in the industry,” he told Threat Level.

(Read More)

Filed under: Larry King Live • Technology

by Greg Finn

Power to the people!  Sites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller and Mixx have become popular social news sites due to the community driven aspect that fuels them.  Traditionally these news sites offer “digital democracy” that entices users because they themselves are able to determine what is (and isn’t) news.  However, a different form of social news not only exists, but flourishes: “editorial social news.”

Editorially driven social news allows users to submit articles for consideration, but content is chosen by editors who handpick it from a wide selection of submissions.  While this may not sound “social,” users generally can comment and rate the content, as well as submit links.  These sites are continually popular and can send large amounts of traffic and massive amounts of visibility to a story.  Some of the most prominent editorial social news sites are Fark, Slashdot, I-Am-Bored and Ebaumsworld.  Many users prefer these sites because they contain less spam and the content found on the homepage is fairly stable and doesn’t vary a great deal.

The largest site in particular, Fark, actually bucks the trend of making it more challenging for power users and is actually grateful for them.  In a recent interview, founder Drew Curtis stated:

“Almost all of the stuff that makes the main page is from those 20 guys—not exclusively, and it’s not like we’ve got a quota or anything like that, but that’s how it works out. Because those guys are writing it properly.”

(Read More)

Filed under: Larry King Live • Technology

Figuring out how to keep the eyes, hands and minds of drivers focused on the road has become quite popular these days.  Lawmakers, activists and cell phone users across the nation are fighting over what we can and cannot do while zipping down an interstate at 60 mph. The desire to regulate cell phones isn't new, but the intensity is.

"No politician has been brave enough to step forward and call for a total ban," said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  It is difficult to say definitively what's spurring the new interest, but each year brings new evidence raising questions about the safety of mixing cars and cell phones. Research suggests that drivers talking on phones react about as poorly as those who are legally drunk.

(Read M0re)

Filed under: Larry King Live • Technology