Checking viral videos' vital signs

April 28, 2009

The infectious, inspiring video of Susan Boyle in its various forms just became the second most-watched video on the Internet.

Recent columns

• Frequent poster's death hits close to blogosphere

  April 14, 2009

  Elizabeth Large, The Baltimore Sun's restaurant critic, signed onto her computer at dawn Wednesday, as she typically does, to post comments sent to her overnight from fans of her blog, Dining@Large. But on this particular morning, one post stopped her in her tracks.

• Orioles bloggers step up to the plate

  April 7, 2009

  Probably no sport is more romanticized than baseball. And what could epitomize that romance more than bloggers who, as a labor of love, write every day about their favorite team, even if that team has had 11 losing seasons in a row?

• When did Twitter take over the universe?

  March 31, 2009

• Local Web site The Dagger takes a fresh stab at journalism

  March 24, 2009

  The Dagger, a local news Web site, doesn't do newspaper writing and reporting (or you could say newspapering) the way it is taught in journalism school. But it may be a glimpse into the way news will be covered in the future.

• 'Wikipedia Revolution' united users on Internet

  March 17, 2009

  YouTube. MySpace. iPod. CareerBuilder. Two words fused together with a capital letter in the middle: The construction seems like it has been standard form all our lives.

• Can't get your ideas heard? Start a Web site

  March 10, 2009

  In the 1976 movie Network, anchorman Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, famously bellowed, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more."

• Twists on Twitter, by the people who use it

  February 24, 2009

  While Facebook took a few years to grow from adolescent chat site to its current broader appeal (no doubt to the displeasure of the college kids), Twitter has leaped into the public consciousness in a much shorter time.

• Presidential pretenders finding Web success

  February 17, 2009

• Google book urges following search engine's lead

  February 10, 2009

  Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, caused some jaws to drop when he spoke in a recent interview with Fortune magazine about the future of newspapers, which are struggling economically despite the fact that their articles help nourish countless search engines, including his.

• Hopkins students take course to design Facebook apps

  February 3, 2009

  The Johns Hopkins University students formed a frenzied hive around classmate Linmiao Xu and his Facebook page, but they weren't checking out the latest gossip on the Homewood campus.

• Obama and the pope tap into the power of the Internet

  January 27, 2009

  There was a striking parallel last week when two of the world's most famous leaders - Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI - unveiled new presences on the Internet.

• Web's social networks fall hack, line and sinker for phishers

  January 13, 2009

  Igot a prompt recently from Twitter, the micro-blogging Web site, that said I could start receiving updates from Britney Spears' very own Twitter page.

• Ravens bloggers are delighted to keep their purple prose flowing

  January 6, 2009

  For Ravens bloggers including Derek Arnold, writing about Baltimore's football team this season has been a joy they did not expect.

• '08 in review: How the Web has woven its way into our lives

  December 30, 2008

  The top 10 online events during the past year are open to debate. But whatever list you settle on would result in the same conclusion: The Internet has quickly grown into a boisterous behemoth, able to amuse us with some mindless video on the one hand and build a presidential victory with the other.

• Recalling when the news of the day came with buttery popcorn

  December 23, 2008

  Raymond Fielding chronicled the last great convulsion between old and new media a half-century ago. It ended in the only modern extinction of a major type of news media.

• Peering through PC screens for a look at the Web's future

  December 16, 2008

  The Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair. The Tomorrowland pavilion at Disneyland. The Jetsons' push-button home.

• For Spears, the hits just keep coming — in online searches, that is

  December 9, 2008

  We're about to finish up a year that included a riveting and historic presidential election and the gravest economic crisis in decades.

• Now that it's everywhere, it's probably time to give up on the 'rickroll'

  December 2, 2008

  When a viral Internet prank becomes a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it must mean it's time to come up with a new one.

• Retailers glad to play along with Black Friday sites

  November 25, 2008

  Jon Vincent expects more visitors to his blackfriday.info Web site this Thursday and Friday than he had all of last November.

• For most of us, our high-tech world leads to low-tech frustration

  November 18, 2008

  Ilined up the snacks and drinks a couple of Saturdays ago to watch the Penn State-Iowa football game on TV.

• Does Obama win shift blogosphere to the right?

  November 11, 2008

  Will President-elect Barack Obama do for right-wing bloggers what President Bill Clinton did for political talk radio?

• 30 daze

  November 4, 2008

  For you, today's Election Day.

• We have seen the future of communicating — and it is us

  October 28, 2008

  It's easier for Peter Shankman to be the pied piper of new technology than it once was.

• Virtually, no defining political moments

  October 21, 2008

  Two weeks before Election Day and it's still hard to pinpoint "the moment."

• Still being bullish on blogs

  October 14, 2008

  Are blogs recession-proof?

• Business sites see uptick in visits

  October 7, 2008

  Business news commonly doesn't attract a lot of eyeballs online, but these aren't common times.

• Sarah Palin: the talk of the Web

  September 30, 2008

  You can argue all you want about the wisdom of Gov. Sarah Palin as a vice presidential nominee - and online America has been doing just that.

• We're all a-twitter being succinct

  September 23, 2008

  Samuel Morse tapped out this historic message upon inventing the telegraph: What hath God wrought?

• The downside of the Internet: some cases in point

  September 16, 2008

  News item: A music blogger was arrested for posting several not-yet-released songs by the rock band Guns N' Roses. Prosecutors argued the leak could cause a financial loss for the band.

• News from Apple sparks a posting frenzy

  September 9, 2008

  Today is Christmas, New Year's and the Fourth of July - for the bloggers who follow Apple.

• Running Ravens sites isn't a snap

  September 2, 2008

  Tony Lombardi's answering machine ends with the message, "Remember, do what you love and love what you do."

• Obama bests McCain in battle of Web sites

  July 13, 2008

  The allure of Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy to people nimble with the Internet was clear long before he became his party's front-runner. A Web designer produced an online video mimicking a famed Apple Computer commercial to mock rival Hillary Clinton before the first primary vote was even cast.

• A social site just for lacrosse? Just ask him

  May 25, 2008

  As the top men's teams in college lacrosse face off for the national championship outside Boston this weekend, Web designer Glen Doss plans to be competing there, too - for fans' attention.