“Government 2.0” has been a big buzzword of 2009, with thought-leaders like Tim O’Reilly and The Sunlight Foundation showing the way. It’s a movement that pushes public institutions to use technologies that have thrived in the last five years (like social networking and blogging) to foster closer relationships with citizens. This entails being more open with data and encouraging people ... Read More

Reuters - Australian shares rose on Tuesday, helped by gains in oil and metals and by merger activity, but stock markets elsewhere in Asia lagged as year-end activity dwindled, and the dollar's rally ran out of steam.

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Most of us have special requests when we travel, but don’t really expect our lodging providers to be interested in these much less take them into account. Nevertheless, celebrities, heads of state and royalty can depend on their lodging providers to cater to their every whim. If Alexander Torrenegra, serial web entrepreneur and founder of new venture LetMeGo.com, has his ... Read More

“Government 2.0” has been a big buzzword of 2009, with thought-leaders like Tim O’Reilly and The Sunlight Foundation showing the way. It’s a movement that pushes public institutions to use technologies that have thrived in the last five years like social networking and blogging to foster closer relationships with citizens. This entails being more open with data, and encouraging regular ... Read More

All over the social Web these days, there’s a race to get as many friends, followers, readers, or subscribers as possible—most of them people you don’t know. As location-based social applications like Foursquare and Gowalla grow, they’re broadcasting your location to all those people, connecting you in one more way to a lot of people you’ve never heard of. As ... Read More

A nonprofit tracks emissions and persuades some companies to change policies before governments step in. ... Read More

In a court filing, a former employee, Paul A. Galloway, said that Seagate had appropriated hard-drive technology from Convolve for its own products. ... Read More

Credit card interchange fees became a hot issue in 2009.  Big retailers got hot under the collar — and so did small merchants who are watching their profits with a hawk’s eye.

Interchange, or “swipe” fees are fees that credit card companies and banks charge every time customers use a credit card to make a  purchase from them.  These fees typically range ... Read More

Over the past couple of weeks, startup Dorthy.com quietly rolled out a major upgrade to the self-styled social search site, making the personal-goal site available just in time to capture your New Year’s resolutions.

The company behind Dorthy wants you to use the site to make — and keep — your personal resolutions for 2010, and more generally all of your ... Read More

Jingle Networks, the startup that operates 1-800-FREE-411, a national telephone directory service, has raised $6.75 million in new venture funding, according to an SEC filing. Based in Menlo park, Calif., the company received this recent round from undisclosed investors.

It has now raised an impressive $88.7 million to date from a group including First Round Capital, Lead Dog Ventures, Liberty Associated ... Read More